FIR registered for allegedly possessing weapon, carrying army uniform. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS
The Lal Masjid was back in the news on Wednesday, and this time it was not for the clerics but the sons.
The city police on Wednesday arrested two sons of slain cleric Ghazi Abdul Rasheed who was killed in an operation in 2007 and recovered a weapon and a military uniform from their possession, said a senior police official, requesting not to be named.
The two brothers were presented before a local magistrate who handed them over to the police for a day’s physical remand.
According to the official, the police intercepted, the men identified as Haroonur Rasheed and Haris Rasheed, while they were travelling on a car PF-184 in the Super Market area, and seized a 22-bore pistol and an army uniform from their possession.
They were taken into custody and cases were registered against them.
Haroonur Rasheed is the main complainant in the murder case of his father, against the former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf which is pending in a trial court.
In 2013, the Aabpara Police had registered an FIR against the former president on the application of Haroon alleging Musharraf to be responsible for the murder of his father and a number of students of Jamia Hafsa, a seminary affiliated with the mosque in the military operation carried out at the Lal Masjid.
However, Musharraf lawyer has filed an application in the Islamabad High Court seeking to quash the FIR as the military operation carried out on the request of the civil administration. The former army chief had been avoiding court appearance.
The former president’s counsel has requested the court to exempt his client from personal appearance on account of poor health.
When contacted, the Koshar SHO Hakim Ali Khan confirmed that the police had arrested both the brothers, and an FIR had been registered against them under sections 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent), 170 (personating a public servant) and 13/20/65 of the arms ordinance.
However, Lal Masjid spokesperson Ehtesham Ahmed denied that any uniform was recovered from possession of the two men. He said that the weapon was licenced.
Ahmed alleged that the FIR against the two brothers was an attempt to stop them from pursuing Ghazi murder case against Musharraf, the prime accused in that case.
On July 3, 2007, President Musharraf had ordered a military operation against the mosque administration for challenging the writ of the state. The military besieged the mosque for 12 days before launching an operation, in which deputy chief of the mosque. At least, 40 militants and three soldiers were killed on July 10, 2007.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2015.
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